Carl Yung Personality Iceberg Theory

Carl Jung Personality/Iceberg Theory

Introduction to Carl Jung

Carl Jung grew up during the late nineteenth century in Switzerland in a Protestant Victorian culture. It was this culture that had such an impact on the values held by American individuals during that timeframe. Jung's father was a pastor and Jung, following medical school completion in the early part of the 1900s became a psychiatrist as well as a disciple of Sigmund Freud. (, paraphrased)

Summary of Jung's Personality/Iceberg Theory

The work of Sally Palmer Thomason (1992) states that the human psyche "could be compared to a giant iceberg -- the conscious mind is like the small exposed tip that is seen above the waterline; the far greater part, the unconscious mind, lies unseen, hidden beneath the surface." (Thomason, 1992) The work of Briggs Myer and Myers entitled "Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type" states that Jung wrote the theory of type over seventy years ago. Jung also wrote of "archetypes -- those symbols, myths and concepts that appear to be inborn and shared by members of a civilization, transcending and not depending on words for communication and recognition." (Thomason, 1992)

Different cultures have differentiated form of their own archetypes however, the archetypes are universal according to Briggs-Myers and Myers. Briggs-Myers and Myers state that if the personality type "…is such a concept, and if it is universal across cultures, religions and environments what a challenge lies before us. It could even be possible for the 'aha' reaction experienced upon recognizing something about oneself or the reason for a difference from someone else, to extend to an international family across political and economic borders, in order to bring understanding and respect and acceptance of the differences between people of different nations, races, cultures, and persuasions."(Peter Briggs Meyers, March, 1995 in: Briggs-Myers and Myers (1992) p.xv

The work of Boeree (2006) entitled "Personality Theories" states of Carl Jung that the life's work of Jung was making the "exploration of this 'inner space' and that Jung was equipped with "a background in Freudian theory…" being specifically knowledgeable in the symbolism of complex mystical traditions such as Gnosticism, Alchemy, Kabala and similar traditions in Buddhism and Hinduism." (p. 1) Jung additionally had a capacity for "lucid dreaming and occasional visions." (Boeree, 2006 p.1)

The theory stated by Jung is stated to divide the human ego into three separate parts that include: (1) The ego; (2) Personal unconscious; and (3) Collective unconscious. (Boeree, 2006 p.1 Added to this is the part of the psyche that makes his theory memorable and unique and that is the aspect of the 'collective unconscious'. (Boeree, 2006 p.1) This is a type of 'psychic inheritance' and is the "reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with." (Boeree, 2006 p.1) However, it is not possible that the individual or society-at-large could in actuality become 'aware' or "directly conscious of it. It influences all of our experiences and behaviors, most especially the emotional ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by looking at those influences.

II. Critical Question About Jung's Theory

The archetypes in Jung's theory are also referred to as dominants, imagos, mythological or primordial images…" at any rate an archetype which is stated as a tendency that is 'unlearned' in which the individual experiences things "in a certain way." (Boeree, 2006 p.1) The archetype has no form of its own, but is acts as an organizing principle on the things we see or do. The archetype is likened to a 'black hole in space. You only know it's there by how it draws matter and light to itself." (Boeree, 2006 p.1) Other archetypes are the 'mother' archetype and there are as well spiritual archetypes and even sexual archetypes. The question that remains according to this researcher and writer of this work is precisely how is it that these archetypes are carried across the collective consciousness or in other words, exactly how does one 'inherit" such legacies or archetypes. Is the range of archetypes in existence across races, cultures, ethnicities, and geographical regions carried in the 'soul' of the individual or is this information carried within the DNA of humans. Is this level of inherently inherited knowledge only attainable by a select few or do all humans have the capacity to acknowledge this phenomenon? (Boeree, 2006 p.1)